The Drive Home
by AnnMiuka
Summary: Naruto gets an idea that has both Naruto and Sasuke rushing home. However, a bad feeling is creeping on these characters. M for SasuNaru shonen-ai. No lemon.
1. Chapter 1

"The Drive Home"  
>by <strong>AnnMiuka<strong>

**Author's Note: **So, it seems I've been away quite a while. I was going to post something for Christmas, but my favorite little beta never got back to me on the story, so I just let it go. I'll post it next Christmas... If I can convince her to pick it up again. It's kinda weird. I've been writing some original fiction and a little bit of rambling fanfiction. Maybe I'll post one of those... I did write a lemon a few weeks ago, so I should be posting that one sooner or later. I'm not happy with it, but smut is smut. Ish.

Anyway, without much further ado.

* * *

><p>"The Drive Home"<p>

**Chapter One**

Naruto stood in his office, juggling, talking on a headset with a customer. He had forty-five minutes left before he could conclude his day, and he had a bad feeling his current client was going to talk right through that time. Women, he thought with a respectful disgust, seemed to do nothing but talk, especially when they knew—and they always knew—that you didn't want to. His current client was also pregnant, and babbled about the upcoming baby for twenty minutes before switching abruptly to the baby's room—the reason she was calling in the first place.

So, Naruto juggled.

Occasionally, he had to pause and take a quick note, peeling it from its quickly shrinking pad and sticking it right to his computer. He'd plug them into her file—already open on the screen—whenever she got tired and stopped talking, or her husband came home and distracted her. The client brought up windows, wondering if she should have them replaced with something more insulated against the heat, and the man's azure eyes glanced at the slow drizzle of rain coating the parking lot. Spring, it seemed, was still clinging to its winter roots. He hoped his partner had taken the car to work.

Just thinking about the way Sasuke looked with his jet black hair glistening with rain water made him smile. It still amazed him that even after six years together—with four years of dating before that—he still got a little thrill when thinking about his partner in various degrees of arousing heat. With that thought in mind, he caught the balls and moved back to his desk. Leaning over rather than sitting, Naruto called up his email, making appropriate responses over the phone so that his client didn't catch on that he wasn't paying attention (he'd gotten better at doing that over the years). He sent a quick email to his raven that he hoped would earn him a consolation prize when he got home.

With a grin lighting his ruddy face, he picked up his juggling balls again and smiled his way through the next half-hour of crazy pregnant lady talk.

* * *

><p>After twenty minutes without a response, Sasuke decided that his partner had once again forgotten to check for the reply. It bugged him to no end that the man would ask a question—even a semi-rhetorical one—and not wait for the answer.<p>

And the answer was a question.

Frustrated but intrigued, Sasuke checked the time again and wondered if he could justify leaving before six. It was only a twenty-five minute drive home, and Naruto rarely attempted to cook anything other than ramen unless Sasuke was supervising—a self-imposed rule after the last incident involving stir fry and the local fire department. He didn't really need to leave yet, really shouldn't leave for a solid twenty minutes more, but found himself dragging on his coat and locking up his office. His secretary rose, startled by his attire.

"Did you have a dinner meeting? I wasn't made aware of anything." She followed him to the elevator, clicking away on her PDA with a speed that reminded the raven just exactly why he had hired her. He pressed the button to call the elevator.

"No. I'm leaving for the day." He raised his briefcase a little as emphasis. Her sea green eyes went wide.

"Are you not feeling well? I can schedule a doctor appointment for Friday if you want." He stepped into the elevator and turned to face his secretary, a smirk on his lips.

"Good evening, Sakura." He watched her as the doors slid shut, chuckling to himself at leaving her flustered. Naruto would have said he was rude, but the raven would have simply told him to bite him.

The blonde would certainly be doing it tonight.

* * *

><p>The drizzle turned into a downpour as Naruto navigated the road home. The biggest problem with being with someone rich and famous was that they had to live away from people. Since Sasuke was an Uchiha, that meant a mansion in the country. And in the middle of a downpour, he was glad he had a sturdy truck for the country road. Usually he only used it for on cite work days, but he was glad he'd chosen it over his motorcycle that morning. As he slowed for the turn off, he worried about Sasuke and his dinky two-door in this storm, assuming that he must have taken the car. At least it wasn't top heavy, he thought optimistically as he made his turn.<p>

* * *

><p>Sasuke was very thankful for calling for a driver. He'd never have made it home on the motorcycle he'd taken into the office. As he walked through the lobby, he spotted Neji Hyuuga, another businessman who happened to be both rival and co-tenant of the building. The man was standing in front of a line of windows, his sleeves rolled up and a coffee in hand. His long brown hair was damp and struggling out of its plain hair band. He looked harassed. Sasuke smirked.<p>

"Tough day?" Neji turned to look at the raven.

"TenTen's crawling the walls and I have to find some way to avoid laying-off two dozen people in a failing plant," Neji stated, referring to his wife and head security officer. He took a long drag of his coffee, cringing at the temperature.

"Hn."

"Dinner meeting?" Neji asked, gesturing at his business rival's attire. Neji had a tendency to roam the building when he was frustrated, so knew many of its occupants and their habits. Sasuke rarely left before six unless he had a dinner meeting.

"Hn."

The smirk lighting up Sasuke's face had Neji turning to face the windows again.

"You're getting laid."

"Hn."

"Drive safe. I'd hate to lose my best competitor to a little rain." Lightning flashed a handful of seconds before thunder rattled the panes in front of them.

"Right. Good luck with that plant in—where did you say?" Sasuke asked, walking toward the door.

"Nice try, Uchiha." Neji toasted him with his cold coffee and watched him race through the rain to the waiting car. He hoped everything went okay.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The rain was pounding on his roof, overpowering the truck's radio, so he switched it off as he waited for the train to go by. He drummed his fingers on the wheel, then threw himself backwards in his seat when the train slowed to a halt. The damn thing was loading or unloading somewhere along its approximately eighty car length. Naruto wiped at the fog on his window, wondering what crazy person decided to load or unload in a thunderstorm. After a moment of staring through the gloom, he simply gave up.

Nothing with relative intelligence would even think of going outside in that storm, let alone—

"AH!" Naruto shrieked, jumping in surprise at the sound of flesh hitting his truck. He wasn't moving! How could he have hit something if he wasn't moving? Without thinking, he leapt from his truck, racing around to his forward fender to see what had happened. Rain fell in bitter waves upon him, quickly soaking his head and shoulders as he stared down at the source of the remarkable sound. There was a large red-fox lying on the road, looking—for all intents and purposes—as though it had been hit.

"What the..." Naruto trailed off, one hand running through his watered mane of golden hair in confusion. Carefully, he approached the fox, reaching out with a hand to see if it was still alive.

In retrospect, that was probably a bad move.

Naruto touched the thing's damp shoulder and it came alive with a fury, snapping and snarling and whining madly. It tore at the hand that the blonde was struggling to pull away, and then rolled to its feet to face him as he stood, clutching his injured appendage in shock. Its eyes were an unnatural red, and with a brief second for Naruto to consider rabies, it launched itself at him.

* * *

><p>"What a downpour, eh, Mr. Uchiha?" The driver rubbed at a recently broken nose and slowed for a red light. He was used to talking to himself when he drove Sasuke anywhere.<p>

Sasuke, for his part, ignored the man, his black eyes looking through the window at the buildings as they wound through town. His mind, however, was somewhere else entirely…

_His lips caressed that tender spot just below the ear. The body in his hands shivered with anticipation, a sigh of breath escaping from between his lips._

"Whoa. Looks like someone's in a hurry!" the driver exclaimed. Sasuke hadn't even noticed that they had pulled to the side of the road to allow a fire truck and then an ambulance to go by. He turned his head away from the window to look through the windshield with mild interest. Some poor schmuck had probably hydroplaned into a tree. He felt a small nudge of guilt for not caring as long as he made it home on time.

The bad feeling never went away.

* * *

><p>"Oh man…" He felt as though a thousand bees were stinging him over and over, pain radiating from his hand, his arms, his leg. There were people around him, and he vaguely remembered the sheep rancher's dog running the fox off, then a big, wallowing, writhing chasm of pain. He heard something over the frantic pounding of his heart, and then felt wave a pain come from his chest as the impact of the bees increased in that area.<p>

"Someone get that tarp!"

"I need that—"

"Hey, you! Get back!"

"Yo, Uzumaki! Can you hear me, buddy?"

The attacking bees subsided, much to his relief, and he choked back the pain induced nausea to open his eyes. There were lights flashing nearby, and the injured man shut his eyes against them. The pain was receding again, and he felt the ground shift abruptly. His eyes bumped open and he realized that he was being placed in the back of an ambulance.

"Sasuke…" he breathed, wishing the man were there to tell him everything was going to be okay. His hands hurt too much to be held, but perhaps he could run his fingers through his hair. He felt cold and started shivering.

"He's going into shock."

Shock? He was freezing! What he was going into was hypothermia! It made his skin tingle and he curled into a ball beneath the blanket—where had that come from? He could feel hands on his arms, could feel some sort of tugging, but couldn't quite place it. He felt coolness rushing up one arm and shivered harder.

"Sir, can you tell me your name?"

He tried to shut his eyes against the light but couldn't quite pull it off. Why did she want to know his name? Wasn't she the one who had taken his wallet? He pushed up, trying to sit up, but the woman held him down firmly, her bound brown hair escaping its bonds to fall around her face like a mane. Naruto would swear she had red eyes. He screamed and flailed and it took both the woman and her scarred partner to hold him down and sedate him. Naruto continued to shiver in brief waves.

"Sasuke," he sobbed. "Where are you?"

* * *

><p>"There seems to be a roadblock, sir. We'll have to try another route."<p>

"Hn. Alright," Sasuke grumbled and crossed his arms impatiently. He wanted to be home with his blonde doing unmentionable things in the dark with the rain dripping through that ridiculous copper contraption Naruto had found in a magazine and bought for the gutter. His frown deepened as they drew nearer to the roadblock. On impulse, he looked through the windshield just as they reached the front of the line, where a police officer in purple war paint—probably from the Earth Day festival that had started earlier that week—was guiding traffic. The raven looked past him to see what was causing the hubbub and spotted their neighbor Kiba and his huge sheep dog about to climb into a familiar rust-toned truck.

Sasuke leapt out of the car with such velocity that the police officer spun in surprise, struck silent for a moment. Shaking himself, he raced to join his partner in securing the man. His business suit was getting soaked as he gripped Kiba's drenched shirt in his hands, panic making him shout needlessly. The dog let out a warning growl, but Kiba ordered him to stay. The officers pulled Sasuke off of him quick enough to have Kiba yelling reassurances.

"Where's Naruto?" Sasuke demanded. He restrained himself from grabbing Kiba again, but desperation now made his hands shake. He locked them in fists.

"He was attacked by that rabid fox I told you two about. Akamaru ran him off but I think he's still around somewhere."

"Where is Naruto? Sasuke asked again, his voice rising with fear. The brunette was quickly frustrating him.

"They loaded him into an ambulance a few minutes ago. I don't know!" he snapped when Sasuke raised a fist to hit him. "I don't know. I'm sorry."

"Sir, if you'll come with me, I'd like to get an explanation?" the unpainted officer asked through his sturdy coat collar. Kiba leaned forward and muttered that he was taking the pickup to his place until Sasuke came to pick it up. Sasuke nodded, his throat tight with unsettled panic. Kiba climbed into the truck, whistling for his dog, then rumbled away, careful to avoid the line of cars and the officer guiding them.

* * *

><p>"We managed to stabilize him, but the dog or whatever was rabid."<p>

"Oh god, Naruto." A familiar voice drifted through the sedatives and he blinked cloudy blue eyes open. They didn't quite focus on his aunt.

"Hey there, old lady. You look pretty."

"Jeez, how much did you give him?" The paramedics exchanged a look, and Kurenai offered a cowed, "Enough."

"We'll take it from here," Tsunade stated, trying not to snap at them. They were soaked and the one with the scar was sporting a new bruise on his cheek.

"Hey, Granny, where's Sasuke?" Tsunade called over a pair of nurse to take him away while she got further details from the harassed paramedics.

"Kurenai, do you read?" a voice sounded from the woman's hip. She lifted it and responded.

"Officer on scene says he's got the guy's partner in custody and that he's pretty messed up over this. They're holding him until Traffic arrives."

"Tell them they can send him over. We'll let the hospital handle it." Kurenai's eyes shot to the doctor's face, but the older woman wore a mask of composure.

"Got it. Genma out."

* * *

><p>Something was in his hair, but he didn't mind. It felt nice. Slowly, he murmured a name and nuzzled the thing touching him. When his eyes drifted open, he sighed.<p>

"Hey, you."

"Hey." Sasuke kissed his forehead.

"Had a bad dream," he whispered around a thick tongue. "Why don' you kiss me an' make it all better?" He puckered his lips and the other man leaned forward obliging. Then, he wrapped his arms around his love and held on.

"It wasn't a dream, was it?" Naruto slurred, his bandaged cheeks half-squished by the embrace. The more he became aware, the more awful he felt. "Hey, now." He patted whatever part of the raven's body he could reach, trying to comfort his unusually emotional partner.

"Scared." Sasuke pulled back and gently cupped his beloved's face in his hands. "You scared me, idiot," he muttered, and kissed him gently.

"What happened? The last think I remember…" Naruto winced. The last thing he remembered was screaming in pain as a demonic fox bit and tore at him. "…was getting attacked."

"Kiba found you. I had Sakura send him a Thank You card yesterday." It was just like Sasuke to ask his secretary to do something like that. Naruto sat up further, avoiding looking at his body. "His dog ran the fox off and he called 9-1-1." He reached up to run his restless fingers through Naruto's golden locks.

"Did the doctors say when I could come home?" Naruto tried not to look around, but his curiosity was beginning to overwhelm him.

"Tsunade said at least another night. Maybe two." And by the second, he'd reminded her, the man would be crawling the walls and harassing the nurses. Shizune had already told her that she was absolutely _not_ dealing with that kid again. She'd gone so far as to switch shifts with the older woman so that she would be working the ER and Tsunade would be in Naruto's ward. Neither Tsunade nor Sasuke could blame her. Last time, when Naruto had been hit by a car, the blonde had wheeled around the ward drawing mustaches on every single picture—whether it had a face or not. The time before that, when he'd fractured his leg trying to do a bicycle trick he'd seen on the TV, he'd pressed the "Call Nurse" button every ten minutes for three hours.

"Aw, I'll get bored. I should be out there working," Naruto exclaimed, but his voice was weak and his shoulders slumped. He was tired and just wanted to go to sleep. "Why don' you crawl up here an' hold me a bit?" he asked drowsily, sinking back into the pillows.

"There's barely enough room for you," Sasuke pointed out, but shifted so that he could lay an arm across him. The blonde was fading fast.

"Aw, fine…"

"Naruto."

"Hmmm?" he murmured, his blue eyes already shut. He felt the heat of Sasuke's breath on his ear.

"I love you."


	3. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

True to character, by the second day, Naruto was up and causing trouble. Even the drugs that they were keeping him on for the pain and the possible rabies infection couldn't keep him in bed. Somehow, he'd gotten a hold of a gurney and was using it as a giant skateboard through the ward when Tsunade gave in and called Sasuke to take him home. She was yelling at him with the fond strictness only a grandmother could pull off.

"Aw, leave off, will you, old lady?" Naruto asked his aunt, tugging his shoes on with a dejected look on his face. Sasuke smirked. The old woman looked like she was two seconds from smacking the attitude right out of him—if that was physically possible.

"This is a hospital, Naruto. You can't just play around here," she said for what Sasuke estimated was the thirtieth time. He cleared his throat and watched those big blue eyes light up like a child's on Christmas morning.

"SASUKE! Tell Tsunade that gurney surfing is all the rage in Europe! You've been there enough times," Naruto claimed. The raven raised an eyebrow, asking if the blonde really wanted him to lie for him. Pouting, the man got to his feet. "Fine… I'll see you later, Granny."

"Sasuke," Tsunade said, gesturing for the man to come closer. She was holding a white paper bag with something stapled to it. Obediently, he took the pharmacy bag. "The instructions are stapled to the bag and everything's clearly labeled." She explained each and impressed upon him the importance of each before letting her grand-nephew drag him away. Better luck to him, she thought, and shook her head to deal with the damage.

* * *

><p>Naruto trotted into the small mansion, a little giddy from the medication and from being home. The first thing he was doing was taking a shower in his own bathroom. He paused when Sasuke wrapped an arm around his waist, tugging him back into his arms.<p>

"Aw, come on, I want to take a shower…" Naruto whined. The raven bit down on his ear, effectively distracting him, and then nuzzled his way to that tender spot just below the ear that made the man in his arms tremble.

"Shower later."

"Uhn… yeah… sure thing…" Not that he had any clue what the raven was talking about anymore as his body responded to the delicate ministrations the man was using to drive his lover to distraction. It was working.

And when they finally made love, it was with the shining rays of light drifting through the window and a gentle breeze making the copper contraption tinkle like music.

* * *

><p><strong>End Note:<strong> So, not so bad, right? Short, sweet, to the point. If you're a medical technician and you see something off about the treatment, please post your comments or concerns and I'll do my best with them. I'm not a paramedic, and actually had to look up the official word for "shock", which is acute response... something... then decided to run with it anyway because 1) it's easier to understand and 2) because Naruto would get it even in his "shocky" state. Still, if it doesn't quite make sense, please comment.  
>And for the rest of you who just love it, comments would be nice, too.<p> 


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